The Collected Writings Of Debby Kay: Reflections On Retrievers

By Debby Kay

The collected Writings of Debby Kay is a compilation of over a decade of carefully researched articles from her popular column in the widely circulated Labrador Quarterly. Her insights and reflections on major issues affecting the development of the modern Labrador offer much for the reader to think about as well as solid research from which one could explore even more. Each story and article offers a wealth of information, photos, bibliography of reference material. The book is organized into major sections of history,health, nutrition, genetics, philosophy and training. All aspects of the Labrador are looked in the unique and thought provoking manner that Debby Kay is known for. This is one reference all serious Labrador people will want to have on hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coveran Publishing House
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780983785644

Debby Kay

Debby Kay has 40 years of experience as a canine professional and pioneered many firsts in canine scent work. She left her position as a research scientist for the Federal Government to become Training Director of International Detector Dogs Ltd., training the first toxic waste detection dog. She was an early pioneer in training dogs to help ecologists, geologists and field biologists find targeted specimens for their research. Debby trained some of the first classes of dogs and instructors for the ATF explosive dog program in Virginia.

Book preview

Collected Writings copyright © 2014 by Debby Kay. All rights reserved. Produced in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author except in the case of short quotations.

For information and permissions, contact

Coveran Publishing House,

719 Mission Road

Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

[e-mail]

Limits of Liability and Disclaimer of Warranty:

The author and publisher shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, or use of the instructions and suggestions contained in this book.

First Edition 2014

ISBN: 978-0-9837856-4-4

Library of Congress Control Number:

Design and Production by Marguerite Plank

Foreword

When I was asked to write an introduction for Debby Kay’s new book, I was both humbled and flattered. I have known Debby for the better part of forty years, and I would like to say that she has forgotten more about dogs than most of us will ever know. But that would not be a true statement, for I don’t believe that Debby has forgotten anything about what she has learned both from and about her beloved canines.

Debby has spent a lifetime with dogs exploring scent work, canine health, conformation, genetics, training, and service dogs. Her interest in the mysteries (to humans, at least) of scent work has brought her to preeminence in the training of search and rescue, detection (including narcotic and explosives detection), cadaver recovery, patrol and man trailing dogs, and the instruction of others in how to understand and train dogs for these various purposes.

Debby has written numerous scholarly articles, books and manuals pertaining to her various fields of expertise, and shared many of them with the Labrador community with her regular feature in The Labrador Quarterly. I always looked forward to Debby’s well-crafted and insightful articles whether or not they were breed-specific or concerning dog health or training. Her present book is a compilation of ten years’ worth of interesting and informative articles. I hope you all enjoy reading them as I know I will, again and again.

Margaret Wilson

ShadowGlen Labradors, reg.

www.shadowglenlabradors.com

Introduction

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my life has been breeding Labrador Retrievers and developing the Chilbrook bloodlines. The other has been writing about them. I was fortunate to have started in the breed during a critical juncture, a point were the breed had been developed into a distinctive retriever with notable characteristics. It was a time when the early developing breeders of the Labrador were aging and ready to pass the guard to the next generation of breeders. It was a time when this not-so-well-known breed was poised and ready to snatch the #1 spot in popularity world-wide among dog breeds. I felt like I had a vantage point in being able to have experienced a tiny bit of the past and have a hand at the future of Labradors just by chance of timing. It was that reason that I choose my prefix to be Chilbrook, a place in England’s history that proved to be a strategic vantage point.

As a research scientist at the time, I fully appreciated what was happening to the Labrador gene pool and I was thrilled to be associated with some of the greatest breeders, supporters, and Labradors in history. I was fortunate enough to travel often to England and be able to sit and talk to these people, to learn from them and to capture their pearls of wisdom. I believe if you are not learning something every day of your life you are not paying attention, and learn I did. My professional background taught me to read and learn all I can on a topic, which I did with joy and dedication as I gathered books, journals, articles, pedigrees, and anything else on Labradors. In my writings I have tried to condense that information into palatable stories to help highlight major issues I see associated with breeding and training purebred Labradors. Since many of these stories were written, there have been great advances (for example, DNA testing); this will make some of the information dated but it is included to help give perspective to the time period they covered. For anyone wanting to go down the path of breeder, I suggest you do the same thing I did: learn the history of what went into the development of the Labrador. You can’t begin to appreciate what you have if you don’t know the history. You will also be better prepared to deal with issues, which may arise as you are breeding. Just because I am curious by nature, when I uncovered interesting trends or facts you will see an occasional story about something odd but relevant.

As you read, you will see I am very biased towards the all-around dog, one that is built well and looks nice but also has a strong work ethic, intelligence, and natural hunting retriever abilities. It is their versatility, good health, and unique temperament that allowed the Labrador to rise to the top spot in dogdom and remain there for more than a decade. It is the responsibility of the breeders to preserve those wonderful qualities for future generations to enjoy so there are several stories about my philosophy on dog people. After all, without people there would not be purebred dogs.

Debby Kay

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

Section I: History

The Performance Labrador

© 2007 by Debby Kay

The epitome of the Labrador, BIS CH Aliho Igloo Iggy MH UDX QAA. Owner, breeder, trainer, handler Elaine Brock

There were two main observations I made when looking at the performance Labrador.

The first observation was the growing interest and almost obsessive passion for sports associated with the typical American family today seems to have spilled over to the Dog World. More sport performance events are offered for dogs today than twenty years ago. Organizations have sprung up to manage these events and competitors can now choose which organization they would like to compete in with their dogs. A recent conversation with some Rally folks at a local Lab Specialty revealed many people in fact compete in both AKC events as well as other venues so they are getting out every weekend! It seems most Labrador owners are involved in some type of performance event and I heard from many people they get involved with multiple events simply because the dogs enjoy it. I think another added benefit all this activity besides the great bonding that is occurring is increased health through fitness for both owner and dogs.

The second observation I made when looking into performance Labradors is the large number of dogs and owners that compete in more than one arena of the performance events. The fact that there are so many new performance areas opening up to dogs has enticed people to try their hand at a little bit of everything. It is lucky for us that our versatile Labradors are up to the challenge and actually do very well overall in most events. A casual glance at back issues of any Labrador magazine supports this observation. It is getting difficult to keep up with all the titles and I know I have already altered my pedigree program to include more spaces to accommodate the growing list of titles a Labrador can earn. I have listed here the titles available for a Lab to earn today with the AKC:

Titles Appearing Before a Dog’s Name

Titles Appearing After a Dog’s Name

It is difficult enough in my mind to compete for one championship title, be it conformation, obedience, tracking, agility, or field, but what we are seeing in recent years is multiple championships and acquisition of multiple advanced titles by the same dog. Our breed has seen some firsts in the past decade with two notable performers in CH MACH Prospects Slam Dunk MH UD, the first Labrador with a Master Agility Championships and Champion Master Hunter Titles. This dog has also earned JAMs in field trial stakes as well. Another first is FC AFC OTCH Law Abiding Ezra, the first and only Obedience Trial Champion with Field Titles. This dog was double-qualified for the National obedience trials as well as the National field trial in the same year. While we may not have seen a new Dual Champion in the traditional sense of the word meaning a show champion and field champion crowned, these two dogs’ accomplishments are no less of great significance to the advancement of the breed. Other performance Labs that have earned a distinguished place among the privileged include:

Obedience Trial Champions with Master Hunter Titles

OTCH Broad Reach Kiss ‘N Tell MH

OTCH Broad Reach Diesel UDX2 TD MH

OTCH Gunning Island’s Black Dragon UDX3 MH OA OAJ

OTCH Plymrock’s Black Diamond UDX11 MH AX AXJ

OTCH Would Coulda Shoulda UDX MH

OTCH Xtra Troublesome MH UDX3

OTCH Winterset’s Chilly Weather UDX2 RN MH MX MXJ

Obedience Trial Champions with a Conformation Title

CH & OTCH. Black Magic of Broad Reach, WC

CH & OTCH Driftway Highlander

CH & OTCH Aliho’s Double Dutch Gold, UDX, TD, JH

I was curious why this new trend in super-achieving dogs and trainers was occurring. With more titles available to earn, obviously there will be more titled dogs than previously. Nevertheless, I found that was not the only reason for the marked increase in multi-champion titles dogs in recent years.

It seems two underlying changes have occurred to spur trainers to push for more titles. The first seems to be the changes in training methods, in particular the past 10 years. Giant steps in understanding the dog’s point of view and in recognizing how they learn and how best to teach them have been made in recent decades, allowing trainers to move well beyond the limited bounds of narrow-minded, old fashion schools of thought. Trainers are more open-minded and methods are more flexible, allowing teams to progress from one area of competition to another with more fluidity than previously. The second reason I feel lies with the breeders, who have been striving to ensure our breed remains truly versatile and capable of rising to any challenge.

The combination of these two points has contributed to the remarkable list of multi-titled champions and performers. The Labrador as a breed has been evolving constantly since it was first discovered on the shores of St. John’s and Newfoundland. Breeders have retained all the desirable qualities of those early dogs while carefully refining other points to make up the modern Labrador we enjoy today. Ours is a dynamic